We have all heard the saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but how do we judge if something is actually broken? Of course, the term “broken” is quite derogatory to Neurodivergent (ND) people, and for a good reason. Still, there is a point to be made here: when do we know when to choose acceptance and when to intervene or remediate? There is an important distinction between a person being “broken” and having a particular need in a specific area. I think the greatest distinction here is that “broken” implies the whole person rather than one particular need. In other words, the person as a whole needs to be fixed, and this is usually due to them presenting as vastly different than “most people.”
The neurodiversity movement is helping people understand that not only is it valid to think and experience the world differently, but it is also essential to the progress and well-being of the whole human race. Unfortunately, Neurodivergence is becoming oversimplified as either something that needs to be fixed or a difference that needs to be fully embraced and accepted for exactly who we are. I started Autonomous Hippopotamus LLC in part to support ND people in a way that acknowledges there are gray areas in this debate. I wanted to respect and promote the idea of neurodiversity as I wholeheartedly embrace it.
Now we have an issue: we are not broken, so there is nothing to be fixed. But what about the parts of the ND experience that hold us back or cause suffering? By addressing specific issues that ND people themselves find troubling, I believe a service like Autonomous Hippopotamus LLC can provide ND people with the holistic, person-centered support that our community so desperately needs.
We believe ND providers are essential to the holistic success of ND learners. This is because our support is in part influenced by our lived experience. We prefer to call our educators or mentors rather than teachers, since this allows us to have a unique perspective. When we had our first session, one of my learners, a young ND adult, expressed that she was so relieved that she was able to unmask around me, which led to less anxiety, less multitasking, and a generally more meaningful and effective learning experience. She also felt validated and understood, which allowed her to feel safe enough to actually have fun learning.
I witnessed similar reactions when I was teaching in special education, especially after unmasking and understanding my own Neurodivergence. In fact, I worked at a special education school where I taught 12th graders who told me that I was the first teacher that taught them anything since they came to the school in 5th grade. As sad as this may be, it makes a lot of sense. If someone thinks and experiences their world differently, then they need to socialize and learn differently as well. How is a neurotypical socializer and learner going to make a real impact on ND students?
In recent years, the American education system has raised a variety of concerns, including an increase in student mental health challenges and plummeting reading and math scores. If these issues are affecting students in general education, then special education students who learn and experience the world differently will be even more impacted. I believe being taught by people who do not have a similar lived experience greatly contributes to our failing educational programming, especially in special education.
According to The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) that was passed in 2015, school programming, curriculum, and methodology must be evidence-based rather than the research-based requirement that No Child Left Behind required. This push for evidence-based practices puts the focus on “tried and true” practices, which means that these specific practices have been proven successful through rigorous research. Research-based methods provide much more flexibility and adaptability for educators. They allow us to create our own practices, as long as they are based on existing research and theories.
While it may sound good, the definition of evidence-based practices is very misleading. ESSA outlines four different evidence-based levels, each providing weaker and weaker evidence, with the first three providing the most statistically significant effects. According to the legislation, only one study is needed for it to be considered evidence-based, which, in reality, is quite contrary to what evidence-based practices are defined as. In addition, it specifies neither who nor where the study can be conducted. This has led to big education companies completing their own research on their own products and claiming them to be evidence-based. However, bias is not the only problem with evidence-based practices. Each of the three levels are described from most reliable to least reliable based on the types of studies that were implemented to research the practices. These designs include experimental, quasi-experimental, and correlational. In plain terms, ESSA requires a practice to be considered evidence-based only if it is researched in a controlled environment. This means that natural variations in schools, communities, educators, classrooms, and students are not accounted for, which makes evidence-based practices nowhere near as reliable and tried and true as we are made to believe.
At Autonomous Hippopotamus LLC, we strive to provide truly individualized practices that are research- and lived-experience-based. ND people hurt the most when standardized practices, which these experimental research practices inevitably create, are used to teach such a diverse learning community like ND people. Special education is supposed to be individualized, but I would argue that it is just a front, as this evidence-based requirement provides the opposite of individualized education. In my personal experience within special education, this seems to stem from a culture that promotes compliance and conformity.
This push for compliance and conformity not only affects ND students in schools, but also follows us into adulthood. Many of us enter adulthood not really knowing who we are, since a lot of times, our interests are discouraged due to them deviating from the norm, when in reality, our interests and abilities are often quite exceptional. This is one reason why Autonomous Hippopotamus LLC takes a holistic approach by providing both academic and social-emotional support. We integrate social-emotional and educational interventions through our academic and coaching services to create natural opportunities that allow learners to practice strategies in real time. We also believe in a trauma-informed approach for all of our learners since so many ND people carry trauma from living in a world not supportive or designed with us in mind. This is only one way “we educate the whole self.”
I am super-excited to share my efforts and mission to help support Neurodivergent people while still respecting autonomy. We started in January and have gotten a lot of positive feedback. We have already expanded to homeschooling support, special education advocacy, and are currently working on providing Educational Therapy. I am excited to continue to use my expertise and lived experience to help other Neurodivergent people thrive.
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Sarah Juliana
Sarah Juliana is a certified special educator in the state of Maryland, tutor, coach, Board Certified Special Education Advocate, Associate Educational Therapist member, and owner of Autonomous Hippopotamus LLC. Before leaving the education system to start her business, Sarah worked for nearly 12 years in a variety of positions within special education. Her experience with a wide variety of Neurodivergent students, including autistic students, in diverse settings helped Sarah understand and develop her own Neurodivergent identity. This helped her see the oppression, injustice, neglect, and general mistreatment of Neurodivergent people in schools and the workplace.
Sarah hopes that Autonomous Hippopotamus LLC can be a safe and effective place for Neurodivergent people, children and adults, to learn the way their brains were meant to. Her company takes a holistic approach to education that acknowledges the connection between learning and social-emotional well-being. Autonomous Hippopotamus LLC strives not to “fix” Neurodivergent people, but to give them the support and educational opportunities they need to thrive.